Comfortable
by greysaddict17
Summary: Chapter Story. Addison and Alex become comfortable with each other. Other grey's characters involved, mostly just Addison and Alex.
1. Don't Worry

**This idea popped in my head, so I decided to write it. But this is my first fanfiction, so please don't be too harsh in reviews. Constructive criticism is always appreciated though. I hope you enjoy it. It takes place about a month after the kiss, but there was no pact with Mark.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**

* * *

**

Addison walked furiously through the hallway in desperate need of an on call room. She had been working for 36 hours straight, and the coffee boost she had about four hours ago was quickly wearing off. Apparently there was very little to do for everyone on call tonight, because she had tried every on call room except for one so far, and all of them were occupied for one reason…or another.

_God please let this be empty._ She thought to herself as she quietly turned the knob and peeked in the room, just in case there was someone sleeping in it. _Of course not,_ she groaned as she was shutting the door.

"Dr. Montgomery?" she heard from a familiar voice just as she was pulling the door closed.

She pushed the door back open and took in his appearance. He was still in his scrub pants, but had taking off his scrub shirt along with his shoes, and laid propped up on his elbows in a white tank top staring directly at her. She met his eyes, and responded, "Yes, Karev, sorry I woke you, I was just looking for somewhere to lay down."

Although most people saw him as an egotistical ass, he had his moments when he was a gentleman, especially with the women he liked. They were mainly brief moments, but always sentimental. Like when he told Izzie to make a wish on her eyelash, or when he had told Addison that he would notice her missing. He wasn't nice to just anybody, but he had grown quite fond of Addison Montgomery over the past few months working with her. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew, at the very least, he respected her, which consequently led to his 'nice guy' side coming out.

Alex had just found this on call room about 10 minutes ago, and was aware of the limited space, so decided to give up the bed. "You know, there aren't any other rooms open, you can just take this one," he said as he sat up getting ready to leave, "and I'll go…catch up on paper work."

Pleased by the offer, but reluctant to accept Addison said, "No, don't be silly, you found it first and you've been working just as hard as I have, I'll just wait until one opens up."

"No, really, it's no big deal. Please, I insist, take the bed," Alex stated with sincerity.

Addison thought for a second before suggesting, "Well ya know Karev, we are both adults here…we could just share the bed." _Did I just say that out loud? What was I thinking…share the bed…oh my God. Just say you were kidding and leave._

"What?" he said not hiding the surprise in his voice. Then he was immediately hit with the thoughts of _Bed. Addison. Bed. Addison. You idiot, why did you question her._

Being pulled from his thoughts, "Well, we're friends, right?," Addison asked, receiving a nod from Alex. "So it just makes sense if we share it. We're both tired and that way we both get to sleep." _What is wrong with you? That was not the plan, now you're actually trying to convince him to get into bed with you…although you wouldn't mind him in bed with you…no no, wrong thought…_

"Erm...ok, I guess I'm fine with that, if you are?"

"It was my idea," she said, hiding any hint of hesitation.

"Oh, right. Ok then, I guess make yourself comfortable," Alex said with a smile as he kicked his shoes back off and scooted as close to the wall as he could to give her enough room.

Addison, who had changed into scrubs knowing she was going to want to lay down, pulled off her scrub top, revealing her black camisole underneath, and stepped out of her shoes. Alex couldn't help but stare at the beautiful woman before him, but quickly changed his line of sight as she turned around to get on the bed.

"You know we should probably lock the door, because if anyone sees us they will probably jump to conclusions," Addison said remembering that Seattle Grace thrived on gossip.

"Yea, that's probably a good idea," Alex replied, and Addison took a step over and locked the door.

Then she finally settled into the bed next to Alex, lying on her side, facing away from him. About ready to close her eyes, she said one last thing, "Don't push me off."

Now Alex Karev might be getting a little soft around Addison Montgomery, but he was still bold, and more importantly still a man. So he replied by wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer and then saying, "Don't worry, I won't."

Addison was surprised by the gesture, but having Alex's arm around her felt too comforting to want to push it away. And Alex was expecting nothing but her shoving off his arm, and was pleasantly surprised when he felt her actually cuddled a little closer. Now having her butt pressing against his hips, and his chest barely brushing her back, they both quickly fell asleep with smiles covering both their faces.

* * *

**Please review if you like it, I'm new so I could use the encouragement to update.**


	2. Tables Turning

**Thank you soooo much for the reviews. It really helps in getting me motivated to write more. You all are amazing!!! Thank again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

They were both pulled from their dreams when three annoyingly loud beeps sounded from Addison's pager, which was quickly followed by Alex's. Being closest to the night stand, Addison leaned over, pulling away from Alex's body, and grabbed them both and handed Alex's to him as she fell back close to him, but not as close as she was when they had woken.

Addison pressed one of the buttons on her pager so the backlight would turn on, and squinted at the screen trying to adjust her eyes from the dark of the room to the illuminating green of the her pager. Reading **J2427 BP LOW** on her pager, Addison knew they didn't have to hurry due to the lack of **911** in the message. She let out a heavy sigh and cleared her throat to try to avoid having a raspy voice from sleeping. "I …ahem...I told the nurses to page us if the Johnson's preemie experienced any changes. It looks like her blood pressure is going down."

Alex let out a groan as he stretched out his legs and arms, same thing he does every time he wakes up. Due to the limited space of the bed, Alex outstretched leg brushed Addison's. She might have noticed, but her attention was drawn to the dark figure of a very toned arm being extended next to her. Alex paused for a second longer than normal, relishing in the little contact between their legs and then recoiled before responding, "Ok, I'll go see if an increase in fluids helps. I'll page you if something's wrong."

Being pulled from her slight hypnosis, she silently thanked God for making the room dark enough that he couldn't possibly notice her staring, and then thanked Him again for the little light that shown through the bottom of the door which allowed her to make out the curve of the muscle in his arm. "Ok, sounds good," she said as she watch Alex sit up and scoot to the end of the bed to get off, which she was grateful for because it avoided any awkwardness that may occur if he had climbed over her.

As Alex sat at the end of the bed tying his shoes, he hesitantly stated, "Ya know, I don't think I've ever slept that good on an on-call bed before."

Addison, slightly shocked by the confession, smiled and said with sarcasm in her voice, "Well yea, _I_ was in the bed, of course it was good."

He chuckled, "No, seriously, we should sleep together more often," playing the sarcasm game back, but serious in the back of his mind.

"I bet you'd like that, Karev," she said jokingly.

"No, I'm serious," he said chuckling again, making it hard for Addison to see if he was sincere or not.

"Me too," she said making it equally difficult for him to read her.

"Well, good," Alex stated, still smiling, as he slid into his lab coat and went for the door.

"Good," she finished, having the last word, and grinning back. She watched as he left, and her grin faded as her thoughts began to consume her. _Was he serious?_ She knew she wanted him to be serious, but also knew it was wrong to be thinking what she was thinking.

Alex pulled the door closed behind him and started walking at a fast pace toward the NICU. The only thought that occupied his mind being _God, I hope she was serious._

The next week had proved that sleeping in the same bed created anything but awkwardness between them. In a way it broke down some barriers between the two, making them _almost_ too comfortable with each other.

It wasn't behavior anyone really noticed besides the two of them, but they didn't discuss the new behavior or its limits, just reveled in its benefits.

It started by simple gestures, like buying coffee for each other…

One day later 

_He walked into her office with two cups of coffee, and held one out signaling for her to take it. She accepted it from his hand and looked at him with a confused but pleased look. "What's this for?"_

"_It's coffee, do I need a reason to get you coffee."_

"_Oh, I guess not." She took a sip and hummed softly, "Thank you."_

_He smiled and proceeded to ask about their next case._

…and complimenting each other's appearance, …

Later that night 

_She heard the ding of Joe's door, announcing his arrival. He was slightly more dressed up than normal for no particular reason, none that she could think of anyway._

"_You clean up nice Karev. Hot date tonight?"_

"_Yea, I'm looking at her," he said with a smile, staring directly at her, a little unsure if he was allowed to call his boss hot. She smirked; rolling her eyes at the comment, but couldn't help blushing as well._

…even remaining on a first name basis while at work,…

Three days later 

"_You ready to scrub in, Dr. Karev."_

_Alex was in a bold mood today, especially since he was getting to scrub in. So he leaned a little closer, making them about a foot apart. And whispered just loud enough for her to hear, trying to avoid any lurking nurses from hearing, "You know, we have slept together, I think it's okay if you call me Alex."_

_Addison giggled, startled by the comment. "Fine, Alex, are you ready to scrub in?"_

_Three hours later_

"_You did good in there, everything went perfectly," Addison said as her and Alex scrubbed out._

"_Thank you, Dr. Montgomery. I learned from the best."_

_Addison had finished washing her hands, so she grabbed a towel and walked over to the sink where Alex was washing his hands and leaned her backside against it so she could she his face. "You know, we have slept together, I think it's okay if you call me Addison."_

_They both laughed softly at the remark, and went on to discussed what should be told to the parents of patient._

…but they were always careful to remain strictly professional when other staff members were around. As the week progressed, they even grew more comfortable physically. They didn't go as far as groping in the office, after all they were 'just friends', but they weren't scared of simply brushing hands when handing off charts, or nudging shoulders when passing each in the hallways, and they never missed the chance to rest a hand on the other's back while reading over their shoulder.

Eight days after the on call room night, Alex headed across the street to Joe's to have a quick beer before turning in. He trotted down the stairs to the door, and pushed it open setting off the bell that dinged to announce arrivals and departures. The first thing he noticed was the redhead he worked beside just a few hours ago. She was talking to a guy. _What a prick!, _he immediately thought. The so-called prick was a handsome guy, by his fashionable attire, sleek hairstyle, and finely groomed facial hair, he was no doubt in advertising or in some other field where you had to fool people into trusting you.

Alex stood at the door observing for a moment, and then noticed the guy's arm reach around Addison and his hand rest at the small of her back.Without thinking about possible consequences, Alex walked up to the bar with confidence in each step and twisted the back of Addison's stool so that she was forced to face him. Addison only had the time it took to realize it was Alex in front of her before he had quickly pressed his lips against hers. It wasn't a tongue-dueling, hot and sweaty, I'm-getting-lucky-tonight kiss. It was a simple kiss, heads slightly tilted to avoid nose-bumping, lips puckered, a kiss that showed familiarity, like they were a couple. It was about two seconds before Alex pulled away, leaving a stunned Addison in front of him. He had planned for it to be a quick peck, like it was a habit or something they did all the time, but instead found the saying 'Easier said than done' running through his head.

Ignoring her look of shock and annoyance, Alex said, "Hey hun. Sorry I'm late." Then he looked up to the man who had dropped his hand from Addison's back, which was now occupied by Alex's hand. "Hey, Alex Karev. How's it going?," Alex introduced himself and held out his other hand for the tradition handshake.

The man looked slightly puzzled, which Alex took great pleasure in, but accepted his hand anyway. "Koch, Jake Koch." He paused and looked at Addison, who was slowly taking in Alex's actions, and said, "I-I guess I'll see you…around."

The only response he got was Addison mindless nodding, because she was still a little taken aback by the kiss. She watched Jake walk off before turning to Alex, who had sat down next to her acting as if nothing had happened.

"What the hell was that?!" she said with a slight smile that read 'I can't believe you just did that.'

"That guy's a tool. He's in here every other day going for a new girl every time," Alex stated matter-of-factly, as if that were enough reason for his actions.

"Well, Karev, although you may think otherwise, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," she said with the hint of anger in her voice.

"Don't be angry, _Addison_, I was just looking out for you _as a friend_. Next time I see you with a prick, I promise I'll leave you to fend for yourself," he said the last part with sarcasm, knowing she didn't mind him chasing off the guy.

Addison's only response was a smirk that said 'I'm trying to be annoyed, but you're making it hard because you're cute.' After noticing that they were about to get lost in one of their staring contest, she stood up from her stool and stated that was going to powder her nose. She really just needed a chance to get her thought in order before fooling herself into thinking Alex wanted to be more than _just_ _a friend._ Every time she thought about crossing that line with Alex, her mind flashed back to the linen closet and warned her heart to keep it's distance from his. Once she had composed herself and taken a deep breath, she pushed the Ladies restroom door open, and immediately noticed a girl hitting on Alex, almost drooling on him. _Unbelievable, I go to the bathroom for two minutes and he already has a girl hanging all over him. _As she walked back to her stool, she heard the girl ask Alex if he wanted to dance. _No one dances at Joe's, this slut must be drunk, _Addison thought and then smirk at what she was about to do.

"Oh, that's probably not a good idea," she said to Alex as she stood on the other side of him, facing said drunken slut. She placed her hand on his upper thigh and look up at the girl. Alex took a drink of his beer to try to swallow the rush of excitement he suddenly felt when Addison's hand was mere inches from his groin. Speaking to the girl in a bit of a hushed voice Addison continued, "His back is still sore, we were up pretty late studying the art of _Kama Sutra._" Taking a drink of beer had turned out to be a bad idea, seeing as it had been spit out in shock after he heard Addison whisper _Kama Sutra_ to the girl.

Taking a hint, the girl quickly found another guy to flirt with, which resulted in a shocked Alex and a pleased Addison. The tables had turned. Alex looked over at Addison, who had decided to mimic his previous actions and pretend like nothing had happened.

"Uh…what was that?!" Alex stuttered out as he finished wiping off his hand and his beer bottle.

"Well you scared off that guy, so I figured it was only fair that I did the same to you," she said with a smirk, proud of her accomplishment.

"Oh, is that what that was."

"What what was?" they both heard from a familiar voice.

They both looked towards Meredith as their grins dissolved into straight faces because whether or not they wanted to admit it out loud, they both knew that the way they acted, the smiles they gave, and the compliments they shared were no doubt pushing it when it came to the line drawn between friends and lovers.

"Oh, hey Mer. How was surgery with Shepard?," Alex stated, ignoring her question.

"Good. Patient lived, so no complaints as of yet."

Since Alex was no longer sending her the little thrills of adrenaline she got when they were playfully flirting, Addison suddenly felt a wave of fatigue hit her and decided it was time to head home. "Well, I think I'm going to turn in. Don't forget we have a pretty early morning surgery, Karev. 8 A.M."

"How could I forget, it's all I've studied for all day."

"Is that complaining I'm hearing?"

"No, of course not…just stating a fact."

"Oh, I see. Well good night, Dr. Karev," she said with a smile, and then nodded to Meredith, remaining with a smile, "Dr. Grey."

"Night."

"Goodnight. Dr. Montgomery," Alex said as she turned to leave, wishing he could offer to walk her home without Meredith growing suspicious.

"So how is life on 'The Vagina Squad'?," Meredith asked.

Alex only let out a groan and took a sip of beer, which said to Meredith that he still hated working for Satan, but it was really do to his frustration because all he wanted to do at that moment was walk Addison home even if it was only to make sure she arrived safely.

* * *

**Unfortunately, I'm getting bombarded with end of semester work, so I'm not sure how much I can update, but I'll try to update as soon as possible. Thanks for reading and please review.**


	3. As Time Passes Us By

**Sorry it took me so long to update. Semester is over though! Hopefully I can update more often now. Thank you so much for reviewing, as many of the writers know, it's very encouraging to get reviews.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

After Addison left the bar, Alex used the early-morning-surgery excuse to head out, even though he knew he wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon. He just needed to think. Think about what was going on with him and Addison. Was it just flirting between friends, nothing more? Did he want more?

Alex laid in his bed letting his thoughts consume him. He attempted to justify all his actions towards _her_ as mere displays of friendship. Bringing her coffee_: Friends have coffee together, that's an easy one. _Getting a rush of energy every time some sort of contact is made, especially like tonight in the bar_: Dude she's hot, that doesn't mean anything. _Feeling jealous at the sight of her with another man: _I was not jealous, it was protectiveness, that's all it was…I was just protecting a friend._ No matter how many excuses he could come up with, there were still a couple of things that he couldn't explain. Why was he awake at two in the morning still trying to convince _himself_ that he wasn't falling for this woman? And why had his last good night's sleep been on an on-call room bed with her in his arms?

"Call it, Karev," he heard her say as she walked to the waste bin, yanking off her gloves, mask, and apron. Alex announced time of death and followed her out of the OR room.

There was silence as they scrubbed out. It was almost a routine for them now, both unsure of what to do after losing a patient. They didn't look at each other, there were no comforting words, no 'You did everything you could,' just silence. If there was no work to be done immediately after, they went their separate ways and waited until work brought them in proximity again. If they had to go straight to work after, they didn't touch, no friendly smiles, only orders and agreements.

Even if they had been getting closer over the past week or so, they were still cautious about certain things, especially Alex in this case. He didn't want her to think that he thought she couldn't handle it, because she's a surgeon; if she can't handle losing a patient, then she chose the wrong profession. But he knew her well enough to see that each death affected her to some extent; _she might be a surgeon, but she isn't a stone cold robot like Yang_.

But for some reason, today was different for him. He was determined to make her happy again. It felt like mission to him, he just had to try _something._ And as he watched her push through the door to the hallway, he had an epiphany of what to do.

Addison heard a soft knock on her office door. She sat up in her chair, ran her fingers threw her hair, and took a deep breath to prepare a front for whoever was at her door. "Come in," she uttered, coming out a little more strangled then intended.

The door opened slowly and Alex appeared with two small cups of hot chocolate.

"What's this?," she said as she accepted the cup being handed to her.

"I believe," he replied as he grabbed another chair to sit on the side adjacent to her, "you call this _juju_?"

Addison smiled as she watched his eyebrows furrow when he said the word 'juju'. "_You_ believe in juju?"

"I believe in anything that gets you to smile again," he stated without thinking of what he was saying. Unable to rewind and take back his comment, Alex just waited for her response.

Addison was slightly thrown off when she realized what he had said. She pulled her eyes from the cup in front of her and looked into Alex's; and as she realized the sincerity that was behind his remark a smile crept across her face. Alex smiled back and the two of them got lost in a trance.

It wasn't but a few seconds before another knock, a harder knock, at Addison's door had pulled them back to reality.

"Jeez, I'm popular today," Addison said, trying to break up the awkwardness that fills the room almost every time the eye contact breaks.

Before she announced for the guest to come in, Mark opened the door, "Addison, are you…Oh...am I interrupting something?" Mark asked as he realized Alex was in the room.

"Just juju. Am I what?" Addison retorted, slightly annoyed by him barging in.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight?" Mark asked suggestively, ignoring Alex's presence.

Alex was going to excuse himself, but after hearing the question he looked up to see Addison's response.

She was irritated by Mark's question and even more so that he asked in front of Alex, but she smiled inwardly as she noticed Alex take interest in her answer. "Besides the fact that I'm on call tonight, what makes you think I would want to come over in the first place," Addison replied, annoyance was written across her face. After hearing her response it was Alex's turn to smile.

"Well…you haven't been in awhile and… Karev, don't you have something better to be doing?"

"Probably, but watching you get turned down was too entertaining to pass up," Alex said as he got up and walked towards the door. Before leaving, he then turned to Addison, "Dr. Montgomery, you'll page me if you need me?"

She smiled and nodded, and before Mark could even process what to say back to Alex, he was gone.

"Is there…is there something going on with you two?" Mark stuttered out.

Addison scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous. Now if you don't mind, I have work to do," she said as she got up and guided him out the door and closed it behind him.

Mark, standing outside the door, was baffled by what had just happened. Addison had rejected him, and Karev had disrespected him…

Mark then noticed a blonde nurse coming towards him. "Hey Dr. Sloan," she said flirtingly. And Mark forgot about what had happened and followed the blonde down the hall.

Addison had had yet another long day, and was irritated when she was felt someone squeeze her shoulder, effectively waking her up. Without seeing who it was, she immediately assumed it was Mark, and groaned out "Leave me alone."

"But I shared _my_ bed with _you_," Alex whispered sweetly.

Shocked by whose voice she heard, she twisted her upper body around so she could see with her own eyes that Alex was the disturbance. After seeing a shy smile on his face, she smiled back and rolled her eyes. _He was serious,_ she thought to herself as she scooted closer to the wall and pulled the covers back, inviting him in.

He quickly got rid of his shoes and slid in next to her. Feeling semi-confident with his actions, he allowed his arm to wrap around her and pull her closer so her back was pressed flush against his chest.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?" he responded, his body tensing from head to toe.

"Next time…don't wake me up," she said light-heartedly. She smiled as she felt his body melt against hers again. He responded by slightly tightening his grip around her waist, and smiled at the one thought that wouldn't leave his mind…_She said 'next time.'_

This little 'arrangement' with sleeping together continued for the next couple of months. It got to the point where they were stealing time out of _every_day just to get a nap. They were smart though; they never got caught. Seeing as Alex was basically permanently on her service, it wasn't too hard to keep it under wraps.

Some days there were notes in lockers. Sometimes messages were passed through charts. And they only ever said anything out loud, when it was the only option. They were also careful when choosing rooms. Unless they were on call, because no one is really around to see them then, they had to be in a room with bunk beds. That way if anyone asked, they had the excuse of the room having two beds.

It was nearly nine o'clock and Dr. Karev hadn't gotten any sleep yet. Since there was a lull in activity, he decided to go on a hunt for his sleeping buddy. He made his way to her office and saw that the door was partially open. He walked a little further and saw her sitting at her desk reading something while chewing on the tip of her pen, one of her little quirks that he secretly found sexy. He smirked and entered her room, pushing the door most of the way closed. He grabbed another pen from the cup of her desk and one of the post-it pads sitting next to the cup. Addison just watched as he scribbled something on the pad, knowing what it would be about. _He's so damn cute when he's tired. _He handed her the note, and she grinned as she read 'I want to sleep with you', one of their many dirty jokes about sleeping together with no sex. She wrote 'Rm. 1232' and looked up to him. He nodded and was the first to head to the room.

Addison opened the door and found Alex already lying in bed. He looked up when he heard the door open; she was holding her jacket and her briefcase, looking like she was ready to go home.

"Alex," she started as she sat down at the end of the bed, "I think we need to stop…this," she continued, gesturing to the bed and between them.

Alex sat up, "Erm, okay," he dragged out. "Can I ask _why_?" he questioned hesitantly.

She ran her fingers through her hair before answer. "Because I think we're becoming too dependent on each other, you said yourself a couple of days ago that you hardly ever sleep except when…"

He cut her off, "Yeah…but it's okay to not want to sleep alone, isn't it?"

"Yea…I guess, but I just think this is going to get complicated. We work together and…" She took a deep breath and continued, "I think it would be best if we just end this now." _Before I can't sleep at all without you._

_But I don't want to stop,_ he thought before saying, "Okay, that's fine, if you want to stop, then we stop." He gave her a sad smile, which Addison returned with her own.

"Alright…well, I'm going to head home. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya," he said as he watched her walk out. He fell back on the bed and after about 30 seconds he realized that he wasn't going to get any sleep now.

He headed for the NICU to check up on patients, and as he was going over the overpass, he spotted her red hair blowing in the wind as she walked to her car in the parking lot. He decided to stop and wait until she got to her car safe. He smiled at how elegant she looked even in the harsh winds of Seattle. She had put her briefcase on roof of the car and was unlocking the door, when Alex saw a man dressed in black, nearly invisible against the dark of the night, grab her from behind and drag her off the parking lot.

* * *

**So, I know that was probably unexpected, but it's no fun to know what happens. So please review, and I will try to update sooner this time. **


End file.
